For some students and educators, the school shutdowns offered a break from the racism they typically experienced at school.

When the pandemic hit and schools shut down, a broad spectrum of emotions followed. There was uncertainty and dread, along with a kind of naive giddiness that accompanies the potential of an unplanned, extended spring break. And then, according to a number of the students of color interviewed for this season of This Changes Everything, there was a sense of relief. 

The relief, they said, came with the realization that they wouldn’t be subject to the microaggressions and macroaggressions that make day-to-day school a harrowing experience for students who are not white. 

Racism in American schools is not new, but this forced departure from the physical classroom was. It shifted perspectives, revealed difficult truths and catalyzed some people to make major changes. The number of Black families who home-school their children, for instance, rose fivefold in the first year of the pandemic and, at 16%, is five points higher than the overall average of home-schooled students at the time.

For this episode, the first of two episodes focused on race, host Sara Bernard speaks with one mother who is considering pulling her daughters out of school and finds that there is a whole lot more going on than COVID-19.

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Credits

Host/Producer: Sara Bernard

Reporters: Venice Buhain, Claudia Rowe

Editorial assistant: Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers

Consulting editor: Donna Blankinship

Executive producer/story editor: Mark Baumgarten

Audio support: Jonah Cohen